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Author: Jorge Newman

Science fiction is not dead! The accomplishments received by the film Arrival (directed by Denis Villeneuve) prove how potent sci-fi can still be. The movie nabbed eight Oscar nominations (and got the Best Sound Mixing award), crowned as the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Sci-Fi/Horror movie of 2016, and received the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. For movie-goers who enjoy science fiction, Arrival was a breath of fresh air as it trailed uncharted paths that other sci-fi movies tried but failed.

Sci-fi television series like Black Mirror and Westworld also enjoy positive reception – gaining a loyal pool of audience within the larger public. Historically, there was a period when the said genre was frowned upon. Critics used to associate sci-fi to formulaic world-building and simplistic storytelling. But I think that this is not the case anymore. People today really enjoy the visions that it presents. From a socio-cultural vista, science fiction serves not only as an artistic medium but also as a technological compass that thinkers and builders can adhere.

The new breed of excellent/popular science fiction movies of the 21st century (A Space Odyssey, The Matrix, Inception, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Gravity, Interstellar, The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road, even Star Wars and Star Trek to name a few) shows that it is an ever-evolving brand. It is dynamic, heterogeneous, and has still much to show. This piece will specifically talk about sci-fi, its definition and significance. It will also list remarkable (but low-key) sci-fi movies that you probably missed.

What is Science Fiction?

Science fiction (also known as sci-fi) is widely defined as a brand/genre of fiction with stories gravitating around the topic of science and technology in the future (example of popular themes are space travel, extraterrestrial contact, time travel, parallel universe, multi-linear dimension, and the reckoning of time). An article published by Read-Write-Think reasons that it is important that sci-fi stories should be, at the very least, guided by the principles of real science (a decent balance of fictive and realistic laws and cognitive logic).As much as possible, it should navigate within the realm of future possibilities for it not to become a form of high-fantasy.

Movie Listing

Here’s a short list of great sci-fi movies that you should check out. These movies are of my own choosing. They do not necessarily have the best cinematography or the biggest production budget. But these films made me reflect about life, future, reality, even death. I also believe that I will be viewing these movies again and again in the future. I assure you, they are worth the watch. See for yourself!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

This movie was based on Douglas Adams’ book (with the very same title) and was directed by Garth Jennings. The protagonist Arthur Dent, an ordinary human attempting to protect his house from imminent demolition, ‘fortuitously’ tangles himself into a chaotic mesh of galactic adventure to answer the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. The character-development and world-building is as whimsical and genius as it gets. It drives the philosophically damning point; that sometimes a pipe is just a pipe (I’m looking at you Magritte)!

Famous line: “Don’t panic!”

Dune (1984)

Similar to the first film, Dune is based on a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. The movie was written and directed by none other than David Lynch. Dune explores how feudalistic a society can become despite unparalleled technological advances. The movie centers on a politically contested dessert planet called the Arrakis – the very source mélange or spice. It is an addictive drug that allows its user to see the future and to prolong life. In addition, it is the sole mineral used for interstellar travel. The movie showcases a universe of Machiavellian politik and erudite scheming (akin to G.R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire”, but positioned in an interplanetary level).

Famous line: “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when my fear is gone I will turn and face fear’s path, and only I will remain.”

Solaris (1972)

Solaris is an Andrei Tarkovsky film. If you’re already familiar with his works, you may immediately imagine things like ‘lengthy’, ‘slow’, and ‘desolate’. Alas! The movie sluggishly unveils the mystery foreign planet (called Solaris) that drives cosmonauts nuts. Psychologist Kris Kelvin is sent to investigate this phenomenon, only to discover dark mirrors of his past. This movie successfully tells us how haunting our memories and apparitions can be.

Famous line: “You mean more to me than any scientific truth.”

Children of Men (2006)

This is probably one of the best movies (not only within the bounds of sci-fi genre) produced for the past twenty years. Director Alphonso Cuaron masterfully realized a dystopian world where no children have been born for the past two decades. The movie portrays how nations and governments collapse due to biological limitations and political idiocracy. As the film rolls, it steadily disarms the audience, challenging them to rethink the superficiality of human existence but, at the same time, pushing them to celebrate the importance of a single life. Mind you, this is not your typical love story.

Famous line: “As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children’s voices.”

Final Thoughts (On the Value of Science Fiction) …

“Why” is the engine that drives good science fiction, and good stories in general. The ability to project ourselves into future worlds is a powerful tool for asking why this world is the way it is and how we can make it better. It’s time to break science fiction out of its ghetto and use it as a common language to connect the arts, humanities, and sciences. – Ed Finn, What is Science Fiction Good For?

Many scientists and academics today are enjoying the interdisciplinary narrative being cultivated by sci-fi works. A number of popular scientists are even engaging the very works produced by the genre. Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking hosted a TV show titled Masters of Science Fiction in 2007. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson habitually reviews numerous sci-fi films. Primatologist Jane Goodal even mentioned that the book Tarzan and the Apes inspired her to understand animal behavior and social patterns. And biologist Daniel Lee (author of Scientific American’s The Urban Scientist) enjoys the movie Dune for it explores the concept of environmental conservation and imperialism. We can even say that it aspires children to pursue or, at the very least, like science.

More than these big names, the genre encourages the public to think future trajectories, tensions, and ethical challenges of tomorrow. It poses question not limited to science but also in other academic discipline like philosophy, political science, sociology, humanities, and the likes. It explores our place in the universe, nature of reality, and role of human agency in shaping larger imagined communities. In the process, the genre presents alternative society that functions differently. It is true that human beings are not in the position to reinvent social fabric within a day. But science fiction allows us to imagine a future that we may have (or we yearn to avoid).

Christianity celebrates a number of festivities and events all throughout the year. In all its commemorative celebrations, the Lenten season is probably the most important. This week commemorates the last week of Jesus Christ here on Earth. All significant happenings that are included in the week according to the Bible are recognized by the Christian community. The week starts on Palm Sunday then moves along up to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Black Saturday, and lastly, Easter Sunday.

Within the Lenten season, the Easter Sunday is its culmination. Most of the countries allot this day as the most festive and the liveliest. There are different activities invented and done during the day and these activities are scattered all over the world.

However, just like me, maybe you are wondering where does the word Easter come from and why was it used? Here’s a brief summary for all of us.

In Pegan times, the month of April was originally called as Eosturmonath (Easter Month). Eosturmonath was always dedicated to the Anglo Saxon goddess of spring Eostre. When Christian beliefs spread all over England, April festival was then called Easter Month Lent.

We take a glance at some of the most remarkable Easter traditions all over the globe.

Italy

La Pasqua is an Easter festival by Italians. On the day of the resurrection of Jesus, locals and tourists gather and take part to this joyous fanfare. Likewise, part of the celebration is the partaking of Italy’s Easter dishes – the roasted lamb which they called as Angelino and the crown-shaped breads.

France

France, with its strong Catholic history, commemorates Easter with great passion and devotion as it is a part of the French culture. The foremost Easter celebration sets off on Good Friday in solemnity. Church bells are forbidden for three days to memorialize the crucifixion of Christ. On the daybreak of Easter, French community dash joyfully outside their houses to watch the bells ring merrily, tell good wishes to neighbors and exchange Easter greeting known as Joyeuses Pâques.

In addition, aside from the ringing of bells, another France’s tradition on Easter is the selling of Poisson D’Avril, a chocolate fish that is prepared by France chocolate makers during Easter season.

Philippines

There is no more devotion from the believers when it comes to Filipinos or people from the Philippines. From the waving of weaved and decorated palm leaves during Palm Sundays, to passion plays and “penentensiya” during Good Fridays, Filipino people exert too much effort in celebrating the Lenten season.

Ireland

Locals in Ireland often get themselves renewed and prepared for the coming Easter by spring cleaning their abodes, buying new set of clothes, cutting their hairs and trimming their fingernails. The holy week is treated to be the most religious week for the Irish. With new clothes, Irish families would go to church together and pray. Going outside is prohibited especially in Good Friday as it is considered to be the rest day of the Lord.

England

Easter in England is celebrated for a week. The resurrection of Christ is rejoiced through exchanging of Easter Eggs and breads, hot cross buns and giving presents. On the other hand, since the place’s main symbols of Easter are rabbits and bunnies, shops are filled with bunch of this stuff when Easter comes. Also, one of the England’s traditions during Easters is women wearing Easter bonnets in the Easter Parade at the Battersea Park. Moreover, as part of the customs, traditional dinner with potatoes, lamb and vegetables are prepared on Easter Sundays.

Guatemala

It is in Guatemala that the biggest Easter celebration is being hold. The Andulasian tradition makes all people in the country participate in this annual event wherein people parade the crucifis all over the city. Procession of the crucifix is just one of the many things that Guatemalan learned from the Christian missionaries that landed in the lands in 16th century.

Colombia

For Colombia, a country that has a wide ranging Catholic populace of 90 percent, the weeklong commemoration of Semana Santa is mainly the most imperative devout celebration of the year.

Just like the solemn processions in Guatemala, Colombia also practices the same ritual where the Nazarenos wear white cross decorated robes with purple hoods. Candle-lit processions of the locals and tourists are accompanied by brass bands performance.

Mexico

Easter is called as ‘Domingo de Pascua’ in Mexico. The Domingo de Pascua is celebrated with two divided ceremonies – the Semana Santa for the entire holy week and Pascua for the Resurrection Sunday to the subsequent Saturday.

The Easter period in Mexico begins with the Mazatlan Carnival. Thousands of locals and tourists are participating along with the sound of the tambora.

Nevertheless, a silent march with lit candles known as Procesión del Silencio is practiced in some cities of Mexico. Furthermore, burning of Judas dummy packed with firecrackers is also part of Mexico’s Easter customs.

India

India is a land inhabited by people with diverse cultures and beliefs. Despite of the differences in traditions and being multi-ethnic, every festival in the place is celebrated dynamically and with great solemnity and respect. Although there are only few Christians in India, the good cheer of Easter season is no less.

On Shrove Tuesday, simnel cakes and pancake cakes are all set. Christians go to church services to admit repent and ask for mercy. Other Easter Catholic customs such as processions, narration and play of Christ’s sufferings are also practiced in the country. Exultation and jubilation lasts for a week or two.

America

In America, the citizens dye their egss with different colors and are hidden all over the place. These hidden eggs will now be searched by the participants of the event, especially the kids.

Spain

On the other hand, Easter in Spain is renowned with its dramatic processions of religious statues. In Andalucia, Nazarenos in conventional hoods and masks marches down the streets. Also, the Danza de la Muerte is anticipated in Verges, Gerona, in which five people are dressed in skeleton costumes while strolling the town and scaring locals.

Britain

A traditional folk dance known as Morris dancing happens over the Easter season in Britain. On Good Friday, hot cross buns are served to people and simnel cakes are offered on Easter Sunday to end the Lenten fast. Whereas, blessing of holy oils and washing of the feet takes place on Maundy Thursday.

Also, a popular Egg Tapping game is played in the North of England, where players hit other competitors’ eggs until there’s only one participant left with unbroken egg.

Poland

Almost the entire community practice Orthodox Christianity in renowned in Poland. Thus, Easters in the place is celebrated in a conventional way.

Easter festivities begin with the preparation of the Blessing Basket comprising of dyed eggs, bread, salt, cake, paper and white sausages on Holy Saturday. The Blessing Basket is then taken to the church to receive blessings from the appointed priest. The blessed basket signifies the end of the Lent period for Polish people.

Moreover, on Palm Sunday, Christians bring branches and twigs to the church for blessing. In Poland, the two symbolize Christ’s entry to Jerusalem. Then, they used the blessed branches and twigs to cure ill domestic animals as well as to bless pregnant women.

On the day of Easter, families gather at the green leaves decorated breakfast table with a sugar lamb prepared and places at the center. Before they indulge on blessed feast, they first wish each other good luck and endless bliss.

Sweden

In Sweden, Easter commences with cleaning and decorating of Swedish households with chicklings, daffodils and tapestries. Small branches and twigs are a common display in every house on Easter. Children are being dressed up resembling the Easter witches – long skirts, vibrant headscarves and red tinted cheeks. Then, they stroll around the neighborhood with their artworks in and exchange them with treats.

On Good Friday, Swedish people strike each other with silver painted birch twigs. And on Palm Sunday, Easter celebrations such as processions, fireworks display and bonfires take place. Likewise, Easter delicacies like spring lamb, stuffed herring and salmon gratin are prepared.

However, there are some Easter superstitions that still exist and believed by the Swedish people. For example, they deem that bad witches’ magic are at its utmost effectively during the week prior Easter.

Final Thoughts…

Truly, Easter is quite a big affair celebrated in any places and diverse traditions are carried out to mark the event. Despite of the differences in traditions and customs – from the preparations, iconic bunnies and vividly colored eggs, masses, feasts, processions, superstitions, etcetera, Easter remained a sacred occurrence not only for Christians but also for everyone who respect and honor the occasion.

Hence, it doesn’t matter how we celebrate Easter, what matters is the reason why we commemorate it.

President Donald Trump keeps on expressing, especially on Twitter, how proud he is about his administration’s new proposals when it comes to American health. But, a group of hospital representatives recently shared their fears on the new healthcare bill designed by Republicans. How can Trump’s health bill harm the poor Americans?

The Health Bill Replacing Obamacare

Trump is currently backing the bill American Health Care Act. The new healthcare bill would finally replace former president Barack Obama’s Obamacare. It focuses on limiting funding for Medicaid, abolishing the requirement that everybody must be insured, and replacing subsidies with credits from tax. It plans to support fewer Americans unlike Obama’s Affordable Care Act or ACA, which helped a lot of insured people.

Let’s go further in the content of the American Health Care Act:

Preexisting Medical Conditions

Insurers must charge an increment of 30 percent on the premiums of consumers who let their healthcare coverage lapse. This affects greatly the insured consumers who suddenly have an accident or an illness. For the critics of the new bill, they thought 30 percent is too much as an increment, especially for poor consumers.

Purchase of Coverage from the Individual Market

Insurance gets more expensive because of the elimination of federal subsidies for people who belong in the lower and middle class. To replace subsidies, the bill aims to use tax refunds instead. The range starts from $2,000 for people below 30 years old, and $4,000 for people past 60 years old. The annual limit is $14,000. However, tax credits would be unavailable for individuals earning $75,000 or more annually. Same goes with married couples earning a total of more than $150,000 annually.

The sad reality of the new healthcare bill, based on the Kaiser Family Foundation’s data, is that it is just too expensive. With ACA, old people in their 60s can gain at least $6,000 from the subsidy. Unfortunately with the new bill, it would only be at most $4,000 taken from tax credits. It would also provide too much freedom for the insurers to charge more.

Medicaid Expansion Program Members

People under Medicaid expansion have until 2020 to take advantage of the program. New enrollees or returnees would not be allowed to join anymore.

Regarding the funding, the bill proposes a new formula in giving Medicaid subsidy. The average medical costs last 2016 affecting PWDs, seniors, adults and children, and the medical consumer price index would be the main points of the formula. Healthcare advocates sensed trouble with this formula because they believed that it is potentially based on flawed mathematics. The formula might excessively reduce the number of people who may use Medicaid.

Employers

Some big employers would not be required anymore to offer healthcare insurance. This can lead to possible problems such as some employees not being covered by insurance.

Planned Parenthood Clients

Planned Parenthood clients would not receive any Medicaid reimbursement for a year.

The Cry of Healthcare Advocates

The American Hospital Association, or simply known as AHA, claimed that Trump’s health bill might affect the insurance of poor American citizens. They were worried that the “most vulnerable” of the country would be exposed to more difficult healthcare privileges. Medicaid serves as support for citizens with low income, but Trump’s administration wants it gone.

AHA really had something to say about matters regarding health because it is representing at most 5,000 health networks and hospitals. Its president Rick Pollack criticized the Congressional Budget Office of inaccurate estimation leading to a weak assessment of the bill. He believed that the Medicaid service program will always be needed by the poor.

AHA was not the only organization voicing out its opinions regarding the American Health Care Act. The American Medical Association, a big group of doctors, also made a plea to the Congress to think twice about lessening the poor’s insurance privileges. Meanwhile, the AARP, which supports programs for older citizens, feared that insurance for older Americans would be reduced too.

Trump Administration’s Defense

House Speaker Paul Ryan was all praises for the American Health Care Act. He believed the demands of the bill were “conservative” and “monumental.” He stated that the bill has always been a dream of Republicans.

One of the pros of the new bill is stopping insurers from discriminating consumers with preexisting medical conditions. It also allows adults up to the age of 26 to be covered in their parents’ insurance plans.

More importantly, it counters Obamacare’s blunder, which discriminates individuals with higher annual income. Obamacare doesn’t include Americans who earn $48,000 and above despite old age. Many of Trump supporters expressed rage towards Obamacare. They didn’t believe that earning $60,000 annually is enough to be considered rich. Instead, they believed that their income only fits the average. They also couldn’t fathom why some people are privileged for free healthcare when they couldn’t even contribute something in return. This must be one of the major reasons why Trump’s supporters are mostly composed of people earning from $50,000 to $100,000 yearly.

Republicans fully believe in the promise of the American Health Care Act. They even called it as the “World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017.”

Trump has been vocal ever since about his hate for Obamacare. He rigorously campaigned against it. He believed that Obamacare struggles from lack of choices and rising premiums. On Twitter, he called it a “disaster.”

The American Health Care Act has not been approved yet. It has to gain the majority’s vote first. Senator Rand Paul underestimated the proposed bill by implying that it would never win in the Senate.

Final Thoughts

After all the big differences, critics still considered the American Health Care Act and Obamacare as two similar healthcare bills. Come to think of it, the new bill retained some sections of Obamacare. While waiting for updates regarding the bill’s success, take advantage of the time to research about its pros and cons. We have to get ready of the bill’s outcome, so we won’t be left out if ever there are changes. As Americans, we have no choice but to follow the administration’s new rules. But, we still have to keep our heads up for awareness.

I grew up in a household full of music lovers. My family and I can appreciate different music genres. Whether my grandparents would play Frank Sinatra music or my parents with their Bon Jovi playlist, everybody in the family can definitely jam with any song. But, what they don’t understand is my participation in music festivals and reliance on Spotify. That’s how differences emerge in my family when it comes to relationship with music. Some older family members haven’t realized yet that technology and music can change a generation.

Purpose of Music

My grandparents play their favorite songs to remember the good old days. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad just want to chill with songs familiar to them. I, on the other hand, want to feel the beat and experience it live in a concert or a music festival. The best part about music festivals is like listening to my Spotify playlist in a whole new level. Going to music festivals makes me forget all my problems.

Music in the Age of Technology

Technology has a big role on how new artists and music festivals become more and more popular. Futurity managed to gain some insights from a music expert, the University of Arizona’s Fred Fox School of Music’s assistant professor Brian Moon. Here are factors that make technology dominate the music scene:

Social Media

Some music festivals are available for live streaming on Facebook. When a person sees how fun the experience is, he or she would probably wait for the next event and finally join the party.

High-Tech Equipment

Witnessing music festivals nowadays is like being in an ultra-modern concert. The camera equipment used are high-end, giving the crowd a better glimpse of the artists in different perspectives. Some festival-goers even buy special listening systems. For example, Doppler Labs launched innovative earbuds that connect to your smartphone through Bluetooth. The magic starts when you can control the volume and ambient noise through the phone which transmits the signal to the earbuds. With this, you can focus more on the music, not the crowd’s noise. Waiting in line is even a breeze in this generation because some music festivals give wristbands that can be simply scanned as you enter the venue.

Mobile Apps

To be more specific, we’re talking about music streaming apps. In the past, we rely on radio and MTV. That means we only see the most popular ones. With Spotify, Pandora and other mobile music services, new artists get popular fast. With the fast rate of emerging artists, music events also increase. If Beyonce, Rihanna and Britney Spears were the only ones who can have saleable concerts in previous years, new artists can now sing on a huge stage in front of a big crowd through music festivals.

Final Thoughts

Yes, technology can be unhealthy in the new generation. People tend to rely too much on their smartphones and other gadgets. Some menial activities like deciding where to eat turned into mobile apps. But, technology makes people closer and experience things in a more exciting way. In the past, we still have to wait for our favorite song to come up on the radio or TV. We also needed to anticipate for the next album of our favorite artist and buy it. Now, we can listen to new songs for free thanks to the power of technology.

Did the Bosnian Serb Army have a right to engage the column of “Srebrenica men and boys,” as Western media have labeled it? Were these helpless, disarmed people, trying to run away to save their lives or was it a military formation doing a hostile military manoeuvre?

Let us get as close to the source of information as possible. Let the top Bosnian Muslim generals, themselves, once again, tell the truth.

Documents on this page all come from the testimonies given by the Muslim generals Sefer Halilovic and Enver Hadzihasanovic at the Hague. On one of our previous pages the same generals claimed that they had no intention to honor the disarmament agreement. They even did their best to arm Srebrenica war criminals.

Let us see what they said, out of their own free will, about the attempted retreat of Srebrenica Muslim Army.

JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] General, to move on to the attack on Srebrenica, do you have an idea when the Bosniak [i.e. Muslim] authorities, civilian or military, learnt of the attack on the Srebrenica enclave by the [Bosnian] Serb forces, and in particular, when were they informed of the transfer of the population, the capture…? When did they learn of this? And the BH army [Muslim] forces, did they have military materiel and manpower to prevent the attack or to launch a counter-attack?

Muslim General, Sefer Halilovic: In the [Muslim controlled] Danimagazine published in 1998 as a special edition, Dani magazine, under the title of “How They Sold Out Srebrenica and Retained Power,” this was an article written by Mr. Hecimovic, a journalist, he quotes a series of testimonies from the meeting of the SDA [Bosnian Muslim Party] Main Board in Zenica…

Hecimovic at that time was a journalist and he was a close collaborator of the [Bosnian Muslim] prime minister, Mr. Haris Silajdzic, prime minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina, therefore, he was in a position to know at firsthand what was happening there.

I later learnt that the command of the 2nd Corps and the General Staff knew when the operation on Srebrenica started, but from a series of testimonies, the people who were in Srebrenica, both from military and political structures, we can clearly see that they [Srebrenica Muslims] asked for help, both of the command of the 2nd Corps and the command of the General Staff and [Muslim] President Izetbegovic, but that they did not receive that assistance. To answer your question whether they had the power and materiel to help, to come to the help of Srebrenica, I think that they did…

JUDGE RODRIGUES: [Interpretation] Yes, General. Perhaps we could now move on more specifically to the column, the issue of the column. In general terms, what information do you dispose of with respect to the column, the formation of the column, the evolution of the column, and everything else with respect to the column, how it was pierced?

General Sefer Halilovic: From what I learnt talking to people who were in the enclave, that is to say, in Srebrenica, but also from the discussions I had with members of the [Muslim] General Staff, I learnt that, in fact, the General Staff and the presidency did not have any information as to the direction taken by the column from Srebrenica. They reported back once but did not communicate after that, so that in practical terms, the first information as to the direction of the column, whether it was moving towards Zepa or Kladanj or Tuzla, reached them only when the first parts of the column began to appear along the Tuzla axis, which means that along that route of horror from Srebrenica to Tuzla, they were not assisted in any way [by the main Muslim forces]. No aid was provided.

Why was there no aid provided? The answer may come from Bosnian Muslim fundamentalist leader Alija Izetbegovic:

Allah does not count victims

FOR ALL MUSLIMS THERE IS BUT ONE SOLUTION: TO CONTINUE TO FIGHT, TO STRENGTHEN AND BROADEN IT, FROM DAY TO DAY, FROM YEAR TO YEAR, NO MATTER THE VICTIMS AND NO MATTER THE TIME

The above quote is from:“The Islamic Declaration“
book by Alija Izetbegovic
First printed in Sarajevo in 1970,
reprinted 1990, page 53

Bill Clinton needs
at least 5,000 Srebrenica victims

Dutch documentary reveals the trap

Thursday, 5 April 2001
The Hague Proceedings, pp 9474, 9475:

Defense council of Serbian General Krstic, Mr. Petrusic, addresses General Halilovic: General, do you know Hakija Meholjic? Have you heard of him?

Muslim General, Sefer Halilovic: I met him in 1999 or 2000 perhaps, after having read some of his statements in the press.

Mr. Petrusic: General, he was chief of police in Srebrenica in 1995, or rather, in the period of the safe area until the end of the war. Is that so, for the record?

General Halilovic: As far as I know, yes.

Mr. Petrusic: [Interpretation] I should now like to ask the technical booth to play a short video film of some 10 minutes. It is a video film made by Dutch television, after which I will have a few questions for the General, General Halilovic.

“The International Community
needed the genocide!!!”

Thursday, 5 April 2001
The Hague Proceedings, starting on page 9480:

From tape presented:
[Muslim official] Hakija Meholjic [INTERPRETER Voiceover]:
THE INTERPRETER: [Voiceover] “A meeting with American president Clinton, Alija [Izetbegovic] was telling us about the offer of Clinton. Chetniks [ment as derogatory for Serbs] would take Srebrenica and kill 5.000 Muslims, and then there will be a military intervention, and what did we think about that? And we rejected that. We didn’t think it was normal that 5.000 people would be slaughtered.”

[Dutch narrator(?)]: That the American president would have suggested that Serbs would enter Srebrenica and to kill Muslims in order to justify an intervention would be too absurd, but from the UN research, it now seems that this is not too awkward. Some surviving members of the Srebrenica delegation have stated that President Izetbegovic also told them that he had learned that a NATO intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina was possible but could only occur if the Serbs which would break into Srebrenica are killing at least 5.000 of its people.

We talked about an exchange and the exchange of Srebrenica for other territories.

UN report: The delegation opposed the idea and the subject was not discussed further.

[Hakija Meholjic]: In negotiations we will demand that the maps will be corrected in the Bosnian parliament, that the Bosnian Republic will get Muslim territory along the Drina. The delegation is — imposed secrecy. The exchange of territories is not — it was not abolished. We agreed to meet the next day. But after our meeting with Izetbegovic, people started to be bribed. People were taken everywhere. Men came that I didn’t know and they made propositions. I’ve seen those men, but never again afterwards.

They spoke individually with us or in groups, sitting at a table. I was sitting at a table together with Mehovic, and they asked us what we thought about Srebrenica for [Sarajevo, Serb held suburb of] Vogosca, exchanging for Srebrenica for Vogosca, and Zepa for Ilijas [also suburb of Sarajevo]. In case I would not accept the exchange, I could be liquidated, so I returned with the delegation to Srebrenica.

General Halilovic was aware of the meeting between Izetbegovic and the delegation. According to him, the president spoke also with other representatives of Srebrenica. Izetbegovic offered to exchange Srebrenica for Zepa, for neighbourhoods in Sarajevo, Vogosca, Ilijas and Ilidza. We rejected that. Only half a year after Srebrenica was proclaimed a safe area, it is the Muslim government that discusses the destiny of the Muslim population in Srebrenica. Did Sarajevo sacrifice Srebrenica in 1993?

Answer: I think so, yes.

Interview of the Dutch Defence Ministry for [unintelligible]…

The question is: Would the Dutch government have sent DutchBat if they had known that the Muslims were considering the secret proposal and maybe have accepted that? Broskij, acting commander of DutchBat, says that this would have been decisive. This is Broskij, the acting commander:

Well, the situation would have been different for the Dutch government in that case. I’m certain of that… we would not have been sent in that case.

Early 1995, after a year of relative quiet, tensions increase in the enclave. February, a year and a half after the issue of exchange of territory was discussed — they’re talking about a discussion with Naser Oric. The one general refuses to take Oric with him. Early April 1995 Oric would have managed to speak to Izetbegovic and to discuss his presumptions. In the General Staff, according to this man, there was a meeting between Oric and Izetbegovic.

I heard from Naser that those two were together in one room during that night. Naser told me that himself. Everything indicates that Oric’s fears were confirmed. Oric is back from Kakanj, but then he[Naser Oric] leaves for good from the enclave and he orders the deputy commander to come with him. After that, he told me, I don’t know the exact number, but he sent about 20 officers away, known fighters who participated in heavy fighting. They were trusted by the soldiers and by the people. Each of them could easily gather a hundred people with them that were willing and able to die, able to die. He sent them away to [military] study, to follow an education. Sources confirm that Oric left on his own initiative. The soldiers spoke to Oric just before Oric left. He said he would come back. He said that he would come back and arrange something for our enclave.

The man who had been in the centre of attention for four years left in silence. DutchBat and the UN left — knew that Oric has been in safety for three months only after the fall of Srebrenica.

Is this his biggest secret? Answer: Probably. His secret and Izetbegovic’s secret.

Dutch deputy commander: He was a very strong leader.

The people, he really — he was a very strong force behind his brigades, at the moment such a commander, at least, and case is complete. People panicked, especially women, children, and elderly, so the weaker groups. And the… army that was left started to panic. We saw that there was no more leadership, and we had obviously been abandoned…

Then something strange happened.

Muslim soldiers leave the enclave and plunder the [Serbian] village of Visnjica just behind the defence line. The order came from Sarajevo to change the pressure on the front. In the meeting, I resisted. This could not happen because this would cause problems. The village was very unimportant.

Still the order was given, and the guys in Srebrenica followed the order.

Why, for goodness’ sake? Houses were burned. The attack was led by one of Oric’s former allies, former associates.

11th of July, 1995, Serbs take the enclave. The Muslims separated. Women and children are bused to safety.

The men stay behind.

The remaining army, the remaining part of the army flees through the woods to [Muslim held] Tuzla… The International Community needed the genocide…”

[End of the Dutch documentary.]

Mr. Petrusic: [Interpretation] Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. Petrusic: General, sir, you will agree that the man on this video clip speaking about the alleged agreement of Alija Izetbegovic on the liquidation of 5.000 Muslims was Hakija Meholjic; am I right in saying that? For the record, you assert that it was Hakija Meholjic?

General Halilovic: Yes, that’s right. It was Hakija Meholjic.

Izetbegovic: Srebrenica people – not my people

Thursday, 5 April 2001
The Hague Proceedings, pp 9487, 9488:

Mr. Petrusic: And finally, General, I’m going to quote one more sentence, page 134 of your book, and I quote: “According to an interview with Holbrooke, Izetbegovic in January 1995 was ready to hand over Srebrenica to the Serbs in the context of a broader solution of the peace question and in order to retain Sarajevo intact. He said that they were not his, and he did not care about that. Mark Dunner [phoen] recorded Holbrooke’s statement on that occasion.”

When you say he did not care about that, that they were not his people, do you mean “he” being Alija Izetbegovic? Is that the “he” you’re referring to? …

General Halilovic: Here it states precisely that it refers to Mr. Izetbegovic, and there is no need for us to deduce anything. It says so clearly.

The two generals inform us that Srebrenica Muslims, already in April 1993, are organized in well formed military unit (the 28th Division), numbering 5.803 people. The “disarmament” scam left them quite well armed. The generals were able to admit that the unit had 1.947 automatic rifles, 27 submachine-guns, 15 machine-guns, 68 hand-held rocket launchers, all kinds of mortars, anti-armour, anti-missile, anti-aircraft launchers, rockets, guns…

This is not your L.A. street gang.

But this was in April 1993 and thanks to the demilitarization agreement given to them by their Western allies the Muslim generals did their best to arm Srebrenica criminals more. The generals admit that they sent, in front of the besieging Serbian noses, eight helicopters filled with arms and ammunition.

So, these are the people who formed a column trying to break trough 100km deep, well defended Serb-held territory.

Muslim General, Enver Hadzihasanovic: I know that on the 11th of July [1995], almost all members of the army gathered in the village of Susnjari.

In addition to the military, as far as I know and according to the information that I have, there were about 7.000 civilians in that village. There was a very small number of women there, not more than ten, I think. So on the 11th of July, in the evening, the division command, together with the municipal authorities, on their own initiative decided to move in a column and try and leave the area of the protected zone in the direction of the free territory around Tuzla. I think that that decision was taken around 2200 hours on the 11th of July.

According to the statement by the late [Muslim] Chief of Staff with whom I had an opportunity to talk, Mr. Becirovic, I think that was his name, the column consisted between 12.000 and 15.000 people and almost the complete composition, the complete division was there, that is, 5.500 to 6.000 troops…

Only half of the armed force
survives the suicide march!

Thursday, 5 April 2001
The same, page 9490:

JUDGE [FOUAD] RIAD: …What was the percentage of fighters or of military people in the column, if you know about it?

Muslim General, Sefer Halilovic: I can’t say exactly what the percentage of military people was compared to the civilians in the column, but after the breakthrough from the encirclement — from the enclave, rather, several days later I saw a review of the 28th Division in Tuzla, and there were about 3.000 soldiers, 3.000 fighters amongst them, and the information media claimed that they came from the enclave to Tuzla together with the column.

JUDGE RIAD: And have you an idea how strongly they were armed in the column?

General Sefer Halilovic: The soldiers who were in the column together with the civilians were armed with light infantry weapons. That was shown during the review and ceremony [!!!] held in Tuzla seven or eight days later, after they had broken through, after they had exited.

JUDGE RIAD: And were they in a position to fight, to fight back?

General Sefer Halilovic: Their position was a highly precarious one, and according to what I learnt, once again from the information media, they had to walk for a very long time and were very tired. They were exhausted, and a large number did not reach Tuzla at all, so that they were not in a position to defend themselves, to fight.

Of course, they were in “precarious position” and they could not defend themselves very efficiently. That was the whole point of the above mentioned Bill Clinton’s plan of obtaining 5,000 Islam martyrs.

This is how the column looked when they arrived. The following photograph was presented in The New York Times on Friday, July 21, 1995, Page A8. The subtitle reads: “Bosnian Government soldiers from the enclave of Srebrenica, which fell to the Serbs last week, stopped for a rest Wednesday near the Government-held town of Kalesija. The soldiers had trekked for days through Serb-held territory, carrying their wounded with them”.

Srebrenica 28th Division arrives –
with Western machine-guns on their sholders

Did you notice the German made, Heckler & Koch G3A3 semi-automatic rifles these Islamic war criminals and terrorists have? The rifle fires the 7.62 x 51 mm NATO cartridge. This kind of weaponry was never (ever) seen before in ex-Communist Yugoslavia. How did this Srebrenica soldier obtain it? Srebrenica was completely encircled by the Serbs from the very first days of the war. What was the content of American “humanitarian” operation “parachute?”

Criminally irresponsible
the Muslims involve civilians
in suicide military act

Friday, 6 April 2001
The same, page 9528:

Muslim General, Enver Hadzihasanovic: It was decided that the column should go along the axis Konjevic Polje-Bratunac moving along the ridges west of that axis, and that the asphalt road be crossed over in the area between Konjevic Polje and Nova Kasaba and that they should continue towards Tuzla after crossing the tarmac on that spot. The length of the column, according to the information that I have, was between 12 and 15 kilometres, and the time span was about two and a half hours from the head and the tail of the column. They started on the 11th of July around midnight.

As far as I could note, it was structured as follows: The head of the column consisted of elements of the 284th Brigade who were followed by the 280th Brigade and I know that the Chief of Staff told me that he was amongst the members of that unit. Then followed civilians together with the military, and the last element of the column was the independent battalion which was also part of the 28th Division.

ZIG – ZAG…
through mountains and hell!

Friday, 6 April 2001
The same, page 9528 – 9531:

Muslim General, Enver Hadzihasanovic: Before they reached the asphalt road at Konjevic Polje towards Vlasenica, an artillery attack was launched against the second half of the column. Fire was opened from various kinds of artillery weapons on the tail of the column, and the head of the column realised that there was nobody on the tarmac road. They had started crossing the road on that spot, not knowing that the second half of the column was, in the meantime, exposed to a fierce attack, artillery attack. That was on the 12th of July. I think that about 80 or 100 people managed to cross the tarmac road, that is one-third of the column.

After that, some APCs and a tank, I believe, arrived and the Serb forces pierced the column on that spot. So the first third of the column managed to cross the asphalt road, and they were waiting to see what would happen with the rest of the column. However, throughout that day, the second half of the column was exposed to heavy shooting and shelling, and during the night, they probably thought that other members of the column would also cross the road, but nobody did so they decided to move on. I know that because the Chief of Staff who told me about this was with that portion of the column.

They continued towards the Udrc mount where they assembled, and at that point in time they sent a group of people back to the asphalt road to wait and see whether anybody else would cross over, but they had to return because no one was crossing the road any more. So on the 13th of July, they continued on their way across the Udrc mount in the direction of Kalesija that is towards the Kalesija-Zvornik asphalt road.

On that part of the road, they were ambushed on several occasions. There were fatalities and casualties there, and on the 14th of July or the 15th, they reached the area of the village of Medzedza, that is the area of Crni Vrh, which is a hill near Kalesija.

On the 15th of July, they tried to leave the area of Crni Vrh [Black Peak] and the wider area is called Parlog. They tried to move closer to the [Muslim held] front lines but they were ambushed again [by the Bosnian Serbs] so they had to go back and they spent the night there. In the afternoon hours of the 15th of July, they selected a large group of people who then fought with the Serbs at one point in time, but they were unable to do anything. So on the 15th of July in the evening hours, they went back to the same spot to spend the night.

On the 16th of July, in a similar way with a group of people, they attempted once again a breakthrough and at that point in time, the communication was established with the [Muslim] front line through a walkie-talkie so the Corps Command, at that time, was already familiar with the spot where they could be expected to come out. In the early morning hours of the 16th of July, the front line was finally pierced by the elements of the 24th Division and the 212th Brigade.

As for the other side, they were moving from the rear of the front and they managed to pierce the line along the distance of one and a half kilometres, and the civilians and the military which was with that group started entering the free area at that spot. However, as regards the asphalt road between Konjevic Polje and Vlasenica, in that area, there were very few people left, only an individual here and there who managed to go through.

Later on, people who survived and who managed to come out told us that it was like a manhunt in that area near the asphalt road coming from Srebrenica going towards Kravica, Konjevic Polje, and then further on from Konjevic Polje towards Vlasenica near Kasaba. So that region was the theatre of a fierce manhunt, and I know that they were collecting people at three locations. One of them was the stadium near Nova Kasaba. The second one was a farm, agricultural farm in the village of Kravica. The third location was an elementary school or part of a factory in Kravica.

If you were a Serb sitting in your village burned down to the ground by Srebrenica Muslims, when you hear that they are coming your way, full force, thousands of them, well armed, would you consider them a military target? They murdered your old mother who barely survived them the first time 50 years ago when they were on Hitler’s side and in Nazi SS uniforms. They mutilated and murdered some of your neighbors. More than 2,000 Serbs by this time were slaughtered by these criminals. They roasted some Serbs, as if they were animals, alive, on the spit, slit throats of others, chopped off heads…

Do you wait for them to appear in front of your house or do you shell them with all you got? Do you trap them in the woods or do you wait to see whether they would, in passing by, murder your wife and children?

As they come to you, by thousands, the best armed ones first, do you check to see who is armed and who is not and shoot only on those who are? Before you shoot, as they shoot at you, do you ask whether anyone in the approaching crowd is younger than 21?

It is the well deserved justice what these criminals are afraid of. That is why they did not want to surrender, not even under supervision of U.N., but it is truly criminal if they brought civilians, maybe even some young boys, on this path of death. Why should the Serbs be guilty if some of these, maybe innocent people, died?

The Western estimate was that too few Srebrenica Muslims died in this hostile, suicidal military act. Again, Bill Clinton needed at least 5,000 Srebrenica Muslims dead so he can pretend to be a humanitarian and unleash the full power of NATO/Nazi force on the Bosnian Christian Serbs’ heads.

No problem. The West, with their Islam fundamentalist allies will find many creative ways to lie about how many people died on the zig-zag, back and forth, Muslim attempt to break through Serbian controlled forests and mountains.

Western media will repeat their lies, as if they were true. The best Western experts were sent to dig, haven and earth in areas broad around Srebrenica, and try to find material evidence, any evidence, to the claim that the Serbs performed mass execution of Srebrenica Muslims. Years of digging could bring no result. No problem. The Western culture slipped so far back into dark ages that not one person would be burned on a stake after a false accusation of being a witch. A whole nation, will be accused of no less than genocide and then this false accusation not supported by ANY evidence would be used as an excuse for all-out punishment in form of mass-bombing (using depleted Uranium), expulsion of at least million Serbs (from Krajina and Western Bosnia) from everything they ever owned…

One of the first tricks implemented was to hide some Muslim survivors of the above events and then declare them dead.

The original page for the above quotes, for General Halilovic’s statements, can be found at “UN” web site at this address.

John Pilger sees only one Balkan winner:
the arms trade

“The struggle of people against power,” wrote Milan Kundera, “is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” The idea that the Nato bombing has to do with “moral purpose” (Blair) and “principles of humanity we hold sacred” (Clinton) insults both memory and intelligence.The American attack on Yugoslavia began more than a decade ago when the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund set about destroying the multi-ethnic federation with lethal doses of debt, “market reforms” and imposed poverty.Millions of jobs were eliminated; in 1989 alone, 600,000 workers, almost a quarter of the workforce, were sacked without severance pay. But the most critical “reform” was the ending of economic support to the six constituent republics and their recolonisation by Western capital. Germany led the way, supporting the breakaway of Croatia, its new economic colony, with the European Community giving silent approval. The torch of fratricide had been lit…

In spite of his part in the blood-letting of Bosnia, Milosevic, the “reformer”, became a favourite among senior figures in the US State Department. And in return for his co-operation in the American partition of Bosnia at Dayton in 1995, he was assured that the troublesome province of Kosovo was his to keep. “President Milosevic,” said Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy, “is a man we can do business with, a man who recognises the realities of life in former Yugoslavia.” The Kosovo Liberation Army was dismissed by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as “no more than terrorists”. Last October, the Americans drafted a “peace plan” for Kosovo that that was pro-Serbia, giving the Kosovans far less autonomy and freedom than they had under the old Yugoslav federation.

But this deal included, crucially for the Americans, a Nato military presence. When Milosevic objected to having foreign troops on his soil, he was swiftly transformed, like Saddam Hussein, from client to demon. He was now seen as a threat to Washington’s post-cold war strategy for the Balkans and eastern Europe. With Nato replacing the United Nations as an instrument of American global control, its “Membership Action Plan” includes linking Albania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. Like Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic before them, these impoverished countries will be required to take part in a “22 billion weapons” buildup. The beneficiaries will be the world’s dominant arms industries of the US and Britain – the contract for fighter aircraft alone is worth pounds 10 billion.

Like the 1991 “moral crusade” in the Gulf, which slaughtered more than 200,000 people, including the very minorities the West claimed to be protecting, the terror bombing of Serbia and Kosovo provides a valuable laboratory for the Anglo-American arms business. Mostly unreported, the Americans are using a refined version of the depleted uranium missile they tested in southern Iraq, where leukaemia among children and birth deformities have risen to match the levels after Hiroshima. The RAF is using the BL755 “multi-purpose” cluster bomb, which is not really a bomb at all but an air-dropped land-mine: readers will recall the Blair government’s “ban” on land-mines. Dropped from the air, the BL755 explodes into dozens of little mines, shaped liked spiders. These are scattered over a wide area and kill and maim people who step on them, children especially.

Britain’s new military-industrial-arms trade, which Margaret Thatcher built and the taxpayer subsidises through “soft loans” to dictatorships, is central to the “Blair project”. Each time New Labour has sought to bring big business into the fold, arms companies or their representatives have been at the head of the queue. A New Labour backer is Raytheon, manufacturer of the Patriot missile and currently under contract to the Ministry of Defence to build tanks. More arms contracts have been approved by the Blair government than by the Tories; and two-thirds of arms exports go to regimes with appalling human rights records – such as the dictatorship in Jakarta, which is currently deploying death squads in East Timor.

Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that British-supplied small arms have caused in East Timor the equivalent of the Dunblane massacre many times over. Last year, the Defence Secretary, George Robertson, intervened in a Courtaulds Aerospace deal for armoured vehicles, headed for Indonesia’s Kopassus special forces whose commander, General Prabowo, he described (in a letter to Robin Cook) as “an enlightened officer, keen [on] human rights”. Kopassus is the Waffen SS-style force that spearheaded the invasion of East Timor, murdered five journalists and is responsible for the worst atrocities in the illegally occupied territory. When Prabowo’s father-in-law, the tyrant Suharto, was toppled from his throne last year, the general was also sacked.

… However, no bombs will fall on Jakarta. They might hit the local offices of British Aerospace (supplier of machine guns and Hawk fighter bombers) and the Defence Export Sales Organisation, the Blair government’s official merchants of death who, as Thatcher used to say, “are batting for Britain”.

John Pilger was named Media Personality of the Year, at this year’s EMMA awards, held on Friday 30th May.

At the annual ceremony – Britain’s biggest multicultural awards, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel – John’s daughter Zoe picked up the award on his behalf.

John is currently filming in Afghanistan for his latest Carlton documentary…

Speaking from there, he said: “The value of this award is that it is the result of a nationwide vote among Britain’s multicultural community.”

The judges cited Pilger’s Carlton documentaries… They commented that John Pilger “goes the extra mile to bring us the alternative truth.”

John Pilger has been named the winner of one of the world’s most distinguished environmental and development prizes. The Sophie Prize was established in 1997 in Oslo and is awarded to “individuals or an organisation that, in a pioneering and particularly creative way, has pointed to alternatives to the present development development system.”

John Pilger, says the President of the Sophie Foundation, Elin Ene, “has, in his documentaries, articles and books and through his integrity, thoroughness and courage, strengthened democracy and human dignity. He has managed to engage the public — morally and politically — for the protection of the powerless.”

Pilger is the first journalist to be awarded the Sophie Prize, which will be presented by the Norwegian Minister of the Environment on 12 June.

Mr. Pilger is author of book “The New Rulers of the World” (published by Verso)

Up to 38 aircraft have been shot down or crashed.
This is suppressed, of course.

The room is filled with the bodies of children killed by Nato in Surdulica in Serbia. Several are recognisable only by their sneakers. A dead infant is cradled in the arms of his father. These pictures and many others have not been shown in Britain; it will be said they are too horrific. But minimising the culpability of the British state when it is engaged in criminal action is normal; censorship is by omission and misuse of language. The media impression of a series of Nato ‘blunders’ is false. Anyone scrutinising the unpublished list of targets hit by Nato is left in little doubt that a DELIBERATE TERROR CAMPAIGN is being waged against the civilian population of Yugoslavia.

Eighteen hospitals and clinics and at least 200 nurseries, schools, colleges and students’ dormitories have been destroyed or damaged, together with housing estates, hotels, libraries, youth centres, theatres, museums, churches and 14th-century monasteries on the World Heritage list. Farms have been bombed, their crops set on fire. As Friday’s bombing of the Kosovo town of Korisa shows, there is no discrimination between Serbs and those being ‘saved’. Every day, three times more civilians are killed by Nato than the daily estimate of deaths of Kosovans in the months prior to the bombing.

The British people are not being told about a policy designed largely by their government to cause such criminal carnage. The dissembling of politicians and the lies of ‘spokesmen’ set much of the news agenda. There is no sense of the revulsion felt throughout most of the [Western] world for this wholly illegal action… and for the bellicose antics of Blair, Cook and Robertson, who have made themselves into international caricatures.

‘There was no need of censorship of our dispatches. We were our own censors,’ wrote Philip Gibbs, the Times correspondent in 1914-18. The silence is different now; there is the illusion of saturation coverage, but the reality is a sameness and repetition and, above all, political safety for the perpetrators.

A few days before the killing of make-up ladies and camera operators in the Yugoslav television building, Jamie Shea, Nato’s man, wrote to the International Federation of Journalists: ‘There is no policy to attack television and radio transmitters.’ Where were the cries of disgust from among the famous names at the BBC, John Simpson apart? Who interrupted the mutual back-slapping at last week’s Royal Television Society awards? Silence. The news from Shepherd’s Bush is that BBC presenters are to wear pinks, lavender and blues which ‘will allow us to be a bit more conversational in the way we discuss stories’.

Here is some of the news they leave out. The appendix pages of the Rambouillet ‘accords’, which have not been published in Britain, show Nato’s agenda was to occupy not just Kosovo, but all of Yugoslavia. This was rejected, not just by Milosevic, but by the elected Yugoslav parliament, which proposed a UN force to monitor a peace settlement: a genuine alternative to bombing. Clinton and Blair ignored it.

Britain is attacking simultaneously two countries which offer no threat. Every day Iraq is bombed and almost none of it is news. Last week, 20 civilians were killed in Mosul, and a shepherd and his family were bombed. The sheep were bombed. In the last 18 months, the Blair government has dropped more bombs than the Tories dropped in 18 years.

Nato is suffering significant losses. Reliable alternative sources in Washington have counted up to 38 aircraft crashed or shot down, and an undisclosed number of American and British special forces killed. This is suppressed, of course.

Anti-bombing protests reverberate around the world: 100,000 people in the streets of Rome (including 182 members of the Italian parliament), thousands in Greece and Germany, protests taking place every night in colleges and town halls across Britain. Almost none of it is reported. Is it not extraordinary that no national opinion poll on the war has been published since April 30?

‘Normalisation,’ wrote the American essayist Edward Herman, depends on ‘a division of labour in doing and rationalising the unthinkable, with the direct brutalising and killing done by one set of individuals… [and] others working on improved technology (a better crematory gas, a longer burning and more adhesive Napalm). It is the function of experts and the mainstream media to normalise the unthinkable for the general public.’

This week, the unthinkable will again be normalised when Nato triples the bombing raids to 700 a day. This includes blanket bombing by B-52s. Blair and Clinton and the opaque-eyed General Clark, apologist for the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, are killing and maiming hundreds, perhaps thousands, of innocent people in the Balkans. No contortion of intellect and morality, nor silence, will diminish the truth that these are acts of murder. And until there is a revolt by journalists and broadcasters, they will continue to get away with it. That is the news.

John Pilger was named Media Personality of the Year, at this year’s EMMA awards, held on Friday 30th May.

At the annual ceremony – Britain’s biggest multicultural awards, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel – John’s daughter Zoe picked up the award on his behalf.

John is currently filming in Afghanistan for his latest Carlton documentary…

Speaking from there, he said: “The value of this award is that it is the result of a nationwide vote among Britain’s multicultural community.”

The judges cited Pilger’s Carlton documentaries… They commented that John Pilger “goes the extra mile to bring us the alternative truth.”

John Pilger has been named the winner of one of the world’s most distinguished environmental and development prizes. The Sophie Prize was established in 1997 in Oslo and is awarded to “individuals or an organisation that, in a pioneering and particularly creative way, has pointed to alternatives to the present development development system.”

John Pilger, says the President of the Sophie Foundation, Elin Ene, “has, in his documentaries, articles and books and through his integrity, thoroughness and courage, strengthened democracy and human dignity. He has managed to engage the public — morally and politically — for the protection of the powerless.”

Pilger is the first journalist to be awarded the Sophie Prize, which will be presented by the Norwegian Minister of the Environment on 12 June.

Mr. Pilger is author of book “The New Rulers of the World” (published by Verso)

As no UN resolution could be misinterpreted as an excuse for attack on sovereign Yugoslavia Clinton Administration was desperately looking for any loophole in the international law to justify the crime. They found NONE. The only thing left then was to invent one. The Big Lie was simplified to boil down to one word: GENOCIDE! The United States was to breach all international law and all decency under excuse that it is fighting to prevent genocide… But of course there was no genocide in the fact that one thousand people (on both sides!) were killed in Kosovo conflict in the year preceding NATO’s attack.

Here presented New York Times document is shocking in its honesty and was never again repeated in the Western press and, to our knowledge, it was never again referred to in any other Western article.

Here are the key quotes:

The New York Times, Sunday, April 4, 1999, page 7, Early edition:

QUOTE:

…[A] word usually avoided by policy makers is being uttered ever more frequently to describe events in Kosovo: GENOCIDE.

[…] Policy makers in the United States and Europe are invoking the wordto help provide a legal justification for their military campaign against Serbia.

[…]

A broad spectrum of legal scholars agree that there is currently NO simple, straignhtforward or obvious LEGAL BASIS for the bombing of Serbian targets to be found in treaties, the United Nations’ Charter or binding resolutions or *ANY* OTHER WRITTEN INTERNATIONAL LEGAL CODE.

(End quote)

The integral quote
follows this analysis.

Well, there you have it — spelled very clearly: The legal experts of past and present colonial powers now known as “NATO powers” worked hard in trying to find any (absolutely any!) loophole in the international law in order to justify aggression on Yugoslavia. The legal experts of both Europe and USA came out empty handed. The end result of their brainstorming was that: THERE IS NO LEGAL BASIS FOR THE AGGRESSION.THERE IS NO WRITTEN (what else!?) INTERNATIONAL LEGAL CODE THAT CAN BE MISINTERPRETED AND USED AS AN EXCUSE FOR MASS-BOMBING (i.e. MASS MURDER AT RANDOM!)

But do not worry dear reader.

Do not forget: we are talking here about the NATO murder club. This is a club which almost exclusively consists of nations who “owned” other peoples and nations; a club of oppressors who committed countless crimes of genocide all across the globe. United States; “the moral leader” of the club has cleansed some 160 peoples from the face of the Earth – from sea to shiny sea – all with perfectly good intention of spreading white culture. This is now called pioneering spirit.

The club includes Great Britain, now only a remnant of the Evil Empire which “owned” half of the planet and which destroyed, mutilated countless peoples. It includes Germany which is a country that industrialized genocide during Second World war; the country guilty of starting two world wars that cost some hundred million lives. It includes other nations of Western “culture” — the culture of genocide — countries like France, Belgium, Holland,… countries that pillaged Asia, Africa… countries that still posses far away islands in Atlantic and Pacific but who were “deeply concerned” when indigenous Serbs of Krajina and Bosnia took arms to protect their ancestral lands and property; to protect their families, their Christian heritage and their very right to exist. These Serbs were called “thugs”, “oppressors”, “land grabbers” and even “conquerors” – while living on the lands that they inhabited, as a majority population for many centuries. The Serbs were called all those names by true thugs, oppressors and land grabbers.

So what was the trouble for these Westerners – the traditional liars and murderers – to come with just another lie?

You see the Western tradition is not simply bash-then-bomb. It is more complicated than that. In their own eyes they have to justify the appalling crimes they are about to commit. They have to see themselves as doing some good. First, they always try to LEGALIZE the monstrosities. This is why Hitler did not just start murdering Jews. He had to find excuse first (burning of Reichstag,… whatever). Then he issued LAWS that absolved the future criminals from murdering Jewish men, women and helpless children. Finally, Hitler tried to convince the world that he is doing this “hard work” only in order to preserve peace and justice. He tried to convince the world that he is doing the world a favor. He is to get rid the world of “the parasites.”

Of course one can easily see the traits of Western culture — of Hitler, Mussolini, Machiavelli — in what NATO was to do to Yugoslavia and to the Serbian people in particular. As Machiavelli would say it: “The end justify the means” and “The Might is RIGHT!”.

To add insult to injury US and NATO will not only cleanse *ALL* Serbs from Krajina (where Serbs settled in 1578), from large swaths of Bosnia (where the Serbs settled in 7th century) – the Serbs will be expelled from Kosovo; the very cradle of the Serbian civilization. NATO will do terror bombing of roads, bridges, factories, schools, hospitals, foreign embassies,… and even graveyards… and at the end of the day NATO will form and pay “Tribunal” at the Hague where all Serbs who dared fight in order to prevent the repeated genocide over their people will be declared war criminals.

All Serbs of importance — all key politicians, all generals from Serbia, Bosnia and Krajina — will be declared war criminals.

To pull this appalling crime of denying one whole nation – the Serbs – the right to exist on their ancient lands the West was following the advise of their moral and ideological leader – Hitler – who taught them that the Big Lie has better chance to fool a common mind than any small one.

And what bigger lie could there be but to accuse the Serbs — the nation who suffered repeated genocide over centuries — of no less then GENOCIDE!?

Here is your rare chance to see the admission of how the West tried to excuse its inexcusable crime:

Washington, April 3 – From the brief room at the State Department to the corridors of Whitehall in London and NATO headquarters in Brussels, a word usually avoided by policy makers is being uttered ever more frequently to describe events in Kosovo: GENOCIDE.

It is not used merely to cudgel the Yugoslav leader, Slobodan Milosevic, and to warn that he could be held culpable for atrocities and to press him to stop. Nor is it used solely to place him in the public mind squarely in the ranks of this century’s tyrants and to ally Americans and Europeans to defeat him.

Policy makers in the United States and Europe are invoking the word

to help provide a legal justification for their military campaign against Serbia. It is one based in part on concepts of humanitarian law, where no word is more evocative.

At the same time, the public invocation of genocide – something political leaders had been distinctly reluctant to do during the strife in Bosnia and Rwanda – is itself helping to create a new model of international law that may be used to justify similar interventions in sovereign countries.

A broad spectrum of legal scholars agree that there is currently NO simple, straignhtforward or obvious LEGAL BASIS for the bombing of Serbian targets to be found in treaties, the United Nations’ Charter or binding resolutions or *ANY* OTHER WRITTEN INTERNATIONAL LEGAL CODE.

“The traditional view of international law would clearlyprohibit what is happening.” Professor Abraham Chayes, of the Harvard Law School, said in an interview.

One feature of this approach is to bypass the United Nations whose Charter is the fundamental legal document on the international peace and security. In fact, the Charter explicitlyforbidsregional alliances like NATO from taking military action without first seeking the Security Council’s prmission. United States policy makers did not seek such authorization, officials have acknowledged, in part because of Russia and China would be expected to veto it.

While [Clinton] Administration officials said they did not set out to create any new broad precedents for military intervention, they have insisted that there is an adequate basis for their action.

Col. P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said, “We believe there is legitimate and sufficient legal grounds for the United States and NATO for the use of force in this situation.” He cited two recent United Nations resolutions calling on Yugoslavia to take measures to end the suffering in Kosovo. Those resolutions do not, however, contain any authorization of the use of force.

A senior Administration official said that the resolutions have been made to “support rather than authorize” the use of force. The official who spoke on the condition of anonymity [!], said that there are several factors the United States and its allies believe provide a legal foundations for the military action.

The “humanitarian crisis unfolding” is prominent among them, the official said. In addition to accusations of genocide, the official said, there are “abhorrent crimes against humanity that violate international law and that are every bit as serious as genocide,”

Genocide is defined in a specific convention, which the United States and Yugoslavia have both signed, that does not explicitly provide for armed intervention as remedy.

Russian and Yugoslav leaders have loudly asserted that the bombing is a clear violation of international law, which traditionally elevates the value of national sovereignty in most situations.

But Professor Chayes, a former State Department legal adviser, said that while there is little traditional justification for the current bombing campaign, “some people have argued for a humanitarian exception allowing for the intervention with force to prevent large-scale violations of human rights.”

“That certainly is in many ways a new idea in terms of international law and raises a lot of difficult questions,” he added.

In the amorphous field of humanitarian law, “There’s a great deal of debate about what the threshold for intervention should be,” said Diane F. Orentlicher, a human rights lawyer and law professor at American University.” But the treaty does provide a bright line in saying that states should not stand idly by when there is genocide but have a duty to put stop to it. It is the legal embodiment of the vow ‘never again.'”

The [anonymous] Administration official said that another important element of the humanitarian factor is the legacy of the Nuremberg Tribunal set up after World War II, which prohibits systematic abuses of civilians, even by a state within its own borders.

W. Michael Reisman, a professor of international law at Yale University, said he believes that what is occuring in Central [sic!] Europe “has produced a critical moment and a basic change in international legal practice.” Although he believes that international law has been used to deal with humanitarian issues, Professor Reisman said what is happening in Central [sic!] Europe is of an unprecedented scale.[!?]

“We now have something that goes far beyond the usual notion of using force for self-defense,” he said “We have a massive use of force against a Government over inappropriate treatment of their own nationals.” It may also bring about the redrawing of a sovereign state’s borders.

Traditionally, the cases in which military intervention has been sanctioned for humanitarian reasons have applied to campaigns with limited objectives. Professor Ruth Wedgwood of the Yale Law School said the classic example is the Israeli raid at Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976 to rescue its citizens from terrorists who had hijacked their plane. “The idea of humanitarian bombing is much heavier.” she said.

[Actually, it is exactly Orwellian. “Humanitarian bombing!” is contradiction in terms and represent a nice example of Orwellian “double speak.”]

Nonetheless, Professor Wedgwood said she believes what is happening may provide a model for the future. [Would this model then be reimplemented to punish America – the main violator of human rights? Should US be humanitarily bombed?] “We are pushing the envelope, being legally innovative,” she said.

What underlines the discussion is a deeply held anxiety among international legal authorities about how fully international law is respected by political leaders. International law has traditionally been derided as something to which policy makers claim fealty when it is to their advantage and ignore or interpret very loosely when it is not on their side.

Professor Thomas M. Franck, of the New York University Law School, said he believes that the allies can justify their action by arguing that even if they have violated the United Nations Charter and international law, it was necessary to counteract even greater violations by the Belgrade Government [which was trying to defend integrity of its own country against separatists and terrorists armed, trained and equipped by the West] of laws that prohibit a government from abusing its own citizens [who like to carry bazookas on their sholders].

“…the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

NATO’s use of force and wanton violence against Yugoslav citizens and property was done purposely and in order to intimidate and coerce Yugoslav government in furtherance of Western political and social objectives. As we have seen in the analysis above this aggression and terror bombing was utterly UNLAWFUL. In other words, NATO’s attack on Yugoslavia fully complies with FBI’s definition of terrorism.

DISMANTLING YUGOSLAVIA

COLONIZING BOSNIA

by Professor Michel Chossudovsky

(Dr Michel Chossudovsky is professor of economics, University of Ottawa. An earlier version of this paper was presented at ‘The Other Face of the European Project, Alternative Forum to the European Summit, Madrid, 1995.)

While Western soldiers make headlines as peace enforcers, an army of international bankers, lawyers, and creditors continues its economic conquest of the Balkans.

As heavily-armed US and NATO troops enforce the peace in Bosnia, the press and politicians alike portray Western intervention in the former Yugoslavia as a noble, if agonizingly belated, response to an outbreak of ethnic massacres and human rights violations.

In the wake of the November 1995 Dayton peace accords, the West is eager to touch up its self-portrait as savior of the Southern Slavs and get on with “the work of rebuilding” the newly sovereign states.

But following a pattern set early on, Western public opinion has been misled. The conventional wisdom holds that the plight of the Balkans is the outcome of an “aggressive nationalism,” the inevitable result of deep-seated ethnic and religious tensions rooted in history (1). Likewise, commentators cite “Balkans power-plays” and the clash of political personalities to explain the conflicts.(2)

Lost in the barrage of images and self-serving analyses are the economic and social causes of the conflict. The deep- seated economic crisis which preceded the civil war is long forgotten. The strategic interests of Germany and the US in laying the groundwork for the disintegration of Yugoslavia go unmentioned, as does the role of external creditors and international financial institutions. In the eyes of the global media, Western powers bear no responsibility for the impoverishment and destruction of a nation of 24 million people.

But through their domination of the global financial system, the Western powers, in pursuit of national and collective strategic interests, helped bring the Yugoslav economy to its knees and stirred its simmering ethnic and social conflicts. Now it is the turn of Yugoslavia’s war-ravaged successor states to feel the tender mercies of the international financial community.

As the world focuses on troop movements and cease-fires, the international financial institutions are busily collecting former Yugoslavia’s external debt from its remnant states, while transforming the Balkans into a safehaven for free enterprise. With a Bosnian peace settlement holding under NATO guns, the West has unveiled a “reconstruction” program that strips that brutalized country of sovereignty to a degree not seen in Europe since the end of World War II. It consists largely of making Bosnia a divided territory under NATO military occupation and Western administration.

Neocolonial Bosnia

Resting on the Dayton accords, which created a Bosnian “constitution,” the US and the European Union have installed a full-fledged colonial administration in Bosnia. At its head is their appointed High Representative, Carl Bildt, a former Swedish prime minister and European Union representative in Bosnian peace negotiations (3). Bildt has full executive powers in all civilian matters, with the right to overrule the governments of both the Bosnian Federation and the Republika Srpska (Serbian Bosnia). It make the point crystal clear, the accords spell out that “The High Representative is the final authority in theater regarding interpretation of the agreements.”(4) He will work with the multinational military implementation force (IFOR) Military High Command as well as creditors and donors.

The UN Security Council has also appointed a “commissioner” under the High Representative to run an international civilian police force. Irish police official Peter Fitzgerald, with UN policing experience in Namibia, El Salvador, and Cambodia (5), presides over some 1,700 police from 15 countries. The police will be dispatched to Bosnia after a five-day training program in Zagreb (6).

The new constitution hands the reins of economic policy over to the Bretton Woods institutions and the London based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The IMF is empowered to appoint the first governor of the Bosnian Central Bank, who, like the High Representative, “shall not be a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina or a neighboring State.”(7)

Under the IMF regency, the Central Bank will not be allowed to function as a Central Bank: “For the first six years … it may not extend credit by creating money, operating in this respect as a currency board.” Neither will Bosnia be allowed to have its own currency (issuing paper money only when there is full foreign exchange backing), nor permitted to mobilize its internal resources (8). Its ability to self-finance its reconstruction through an independent monetary policy is blunted from the outset.

While the Central Bank is in IMF custody, the EBRD heads the Commission on Public Corporations, which supervises operations of all public sector enterprises, including energy, water, postal services, telecommunications, and transportation. The EBRD president appoints the commission chair and will direct public sector restructuring, i.e., the sell-off of state- and socially-owned assets and the procurement of long-term investment funds (9). Western creditors explicitly created the EBRD “to give a distinctively political dimension to lending (10).

As the West trumpets its support for democracy, actual political power rests in the hands of a parallel Bosnian “state” whose executive positions are held by non-citizens. Western creditors have embedded their interests in a constitution hastily written on their behalf. They have done so without a constitutional assembly and without consultations with Bosnian citizens’ organizations. Their plans to rebuild Bosnia appear more suited to sating creditors than satisfying even the elementary needs of Bosnians.

And why not? The neocolonization of Bosnia is the logical culmination of long Western efforts to undo Yugoslavia’s experiment in market socialism and workers’ self-management and to impose the dictate of a the free market.

The Shape of Things to Come

Multiethnic, socialist Yugoslavia was once a regional industrial power and economic success. In the two decades before 1980, annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaged 6.1 percent, medical care was free, the literacy was 91 percent, and life expectancy was 72 years (11). But after a decade of Western economic ministrations and five years of disintegration, war, boycott, and embargo, the economies of the former Yugoslavia are prostrate, their industrial sectors dismantled.

Yugoslavia’s implosion was partially due to US machinations. Despite Belgrade’s non-alignment and its extensive trading relations with the European Community and the US, the Reagan administration targeted the Yugoslav economy in a “Secret Sensitive” 1984 National Security Decision Directive (NSDD 133), “Us Policy towards Yugoslavia.” A censored version declassified in 1990 elaborated on NSDD 64 on Eastern Europe, issued in 1982. The latter advocated “expanded efforts to promote a ‘quiet revolution’ to overthrow Communist governments and parties,” while reintegrating the countries of Eastern Europe into a market-oriented economy (12).

The US had earlier joined Belgrade’s other international creditors in imposing a first round of macroeconomics reform in 1980, shortly before the death of Marshall Tito. That initial round of restructuring set the pattern. Throughout the 1980s, the IMF and World Bank periodically prescribed further doses of their bitter economic medicine as the Yugoslav economy slowly lapsed into a coma.

From the beginning, successive IMF sponsored programs hastened the disintegration of the Yugoslav industrial sector industrial production declined to a negative 10 percent growth rate by 1990 (13) and the piecemeal dismantling of its welfare state, with all the predictable social consequences. Debt restructuring agreements, meanwhile, increased foreign debt, and a mandated currency devaluation also hit hard at Yugoslavs’ standard of living.

Mr. Markovic goes to Washington

In autumn 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Yugoslav federal Premier Ante Markovic met in Washington with President George Bush to cap negotiations for a new financial aid package. In return for assistance, Yugoslavia agreed to even more sweeping economic reforms, including a new devalued currency, another wage freeze, sharp cuts in government spending, and the elimination of socially owned, worker- managed companies (14). The Belgrade nomenclature, with the assistance of Western advisers, had laid the groundwork for Markovic’s mission by implementing beforehand many of the required reforms, including a major liberalization of foreign investment legislation.

“Shock therapy” began in January 1990. Although inflation had eaten away at earnings, the IMF ordered that wages be frozen at their mid November 1989 levels. Prices continued to rise unabated, and real wages collapsed by 41 percent in the first six months of 1990 (15).

The IMF also effectively controlled the Yugoslav central bank. Its tight money , policy further crippled the country’s ability to finance its economic and social programs. State revenues that should have gone as transfer payments to the republics and provinces went instead to service Belgrade’s debt with the Paris and London clubs. The republics were largely left to their own devices.

In one fell swoop, the reformers engineered the final collapse of Yiugoslavia’s federal fiscal structure and mortally wounded its federal political institutions. By cutting the financial arteries between Belgrade and the republics, the reforms fueled secessionist tendencies that fed on economic factors as well as ethnic divisions, virtually ensuring the de facto secession of the republics.

The IMF-induced budgetary crisis created an economic fait accompli that paved the way for Croatia’s and Slovenia’s formal secession in June 1991.

Crashed by the Invisible Hand

The reforms demanded by Belgrade’s creditors also struck at the heart of Yugoslavia’s system of socially-owned and worker-managed enterprises. As one observer noted,

The objective was to subject the Yugoslav economy to massive privatization and the dismantling of the public sector. The Communist Party bureaucracy, most notably its military and intelligence sector, was canvassed specifically and offered political and economic backing on the condition that wholesale scuttling of social protections for Yugoslavia’s workforce was imposed.” (16)

It was an offer that a desperate Yugoslavia could not refuse. Advised by Western lawyers and consultants, Markovic’s government passed financial legislation that forced “insolvent” businesses into bankruptcy or liquidation. Under the new law, if a business was unable to pay its bills for 30 days running, or for 30 days within a 45-day period, the government would launch bankruptcy proceedings within the next 15 days.

The assault on the socialist economy also included a new banking law designed to trigger the liquidation of the socially-owned “Associated Banks.” Within two years, more than half the country’s banks had vanished, to be replaced by newly-formed “independent profit-oriented institutions.”

These changes in the legal framework, combined with the IMF’s tight money policy toward industry and the opening of the economy to foreign competition, accelerated industrial decline.

From 1989 through September 1990, more than a thousand companies went into bankruptcy. By 1990, the annual GDP growth rate had collapsed to a negative 7.5 percent. In 1991, GDP declined by a further 15 percent, while industrial output shrank by 21 percent (l7)

The IMF package unquestionably precipitated the collapse of much of Yugoslavia’s well-developed heavy industry.Other socially-owned enterprises survived only by not paying workers. More than half a million workers still on company payrolls did not get regular paychecks in late 1990. They were the lucky ones. Some 600,000 Yugoslavs had already lost their jobs by September 1990, and that was only the beginning. According to the World Bank, another 2,435 industrial enterprises, including some of the country’s largest, were slated for liquidation. Their 1.3 million workers half the remaining industrial workforce were “redundant.”(18)

As 1991 dawned, real wages were in free fall, social programs had collapsed, and unemployment ran rampant. The dismantling of the industrial economy was breathtaking in its magnitude and brutality. Its social and political impact, while not as easily quantified, was tremendous. “The pips are squeaking,” as London’s Financial Times put it.(19)

Less archly, Yugoslav President Borisav Jovic warned that the reforms were “having a markedly unfavorable impact on the overall situation in society…. Citizens have lost faith in the state and its institutions…. The further deepening of the economic crisis and the growth of social tensions has had a VITAL impact on the deterioration of the political-security situation.“(20)

The Political Economy of Disintegration

Some Yugoslavs joined together in a doomed battle to prevent the destruction of their economy and polity. As one observer found, “worker resistance crossed ethnic lines, as Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Slovenians mobilized … shoulder to shoulder with their fellow workers.”(21) But the economic struggle also heightened already tense relations among the republics and between the republics and Belgrade.

Serbia rejected the austerity plan outright, and some 650,000 Serbian workers struck against the federal government to force wage hikes.(22) The other republics followed different and sometimes self-contradictory paths.

In relatively wealthy Slovenia, for instance, secessionist leaders such as Social Democratie party chair Joze Pucnik supported the reforms: “From an economic standpoint, I can only agree with socially harmful measures in our society, such as rising unemployment or cutting workers’ rights, because they are necessary to advance the economic reform process.”(23)

But at the same time, Slovenia joined other republics in challenging the federal government’s efforts to restrict their economic autonomy. Both Croatian leader Franjo Tudjman and Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic joined Slovene leaders in railing against Yugoslavia’s attempts to impose harsh reforms.(24)

In the multiparty elections in 1990, economic policy was at the center of the political debate as separatist coalitions ousted the Communists in Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia. Just as economic collapse spurred the drift toward separation, separation in turn exacerbated the economic crisis. Cooperation among the republics virtually ceased. And with the republics at one anothers’ throats, both the economy and the nation itself embarked on a vicious downward spiral.

The process sped along as the republican leadership, deliberately fostered social and economic divisions to strengthen their own hands: “The republican oligarchies, who all had visions of a ‘national renaissance’ of their own, instead of choosing between a genuine Yugoslav market and hyperinflation, opted for war which would disguise the real causes of the economic catastrophe .”(25)

The simultaneous appearance of militias loyal to secessionist leaders only hastened the descent into chaos. These militias, with their escalating atrocities, not only split the population along ethnic lines, they also fragmented the workers’ movement.(26)

Western Help

The austerity measures had laid the basis for the recolonization of the Balkans. Whether that required the breakup of Yugoslavia was subject to debate among the Western powers, with Germany leading the push for secession and the US, fearful of opening a nationalist Pandora’s box, originally arguing for Yugoslavia’s preservation.

Following Franjo Tudjman’s and the rightist Democratic Union’s decisive victory in Croatia in May 1990, German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, in almost daily contact with his counterpart in Zagreb, gave his goahead for Croatian secession.(27) Germany did not passively support secession; it “forced the pace of international diplomacy” and pressured its Western allies to recognize Slovenia and Croatia. Germany sought a free hand among its allies “to pursue economic dominance in the whole of Mittel Europa.“(28)

Washington, on the other hand, favored a loose unity while encouraging democratic development … [Secretary of State] Baker told Tudjman and [Slovenia’s President] Milan Kucan that the United States would not encourage or support unilateral secession … but if they had to leave, he urged them to leave by a negotiated agreement. (29)

Instead, Slovenia, Croatia, and finally, Bosnia fought bloody civil wars against “rump” Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) or Serbian nationalists or both. But now, the US has belatedly taken an active diplomatic role in Bosnia, strengthened its relations with Croatia and Macedonia, and positioned itself to play a leading role in the region’s economic and political future.

The Post-War Regime

Western creditors have now turned their attention to Yugoslavia’s successor states. As with the demise of Yugoslavia, the economic aspects of post-war reconstruction remain largely unheralded, but the prospects for rebuilding the newly independent republics appear bleak. Yugoslavia’s foreign debt has been carefully divided and allocated to the successor republics,(30) which are now strangled in separate debt rescheduling and structural adjustment agreements.

The consensus among donors and international agencies is that past macroeconomics reforms adopted under IMF advice had not quite met their goal and further shock therapy is required to restore “economic health” to Yugoslavia’s successor states. Croatia and Macedonia have followed the IMF’s direction: Both have agreed to loan packages to pay off their shares of the Yugoslav debt that require a consolidation of the process begun wit Ante Markovic’s bankruptcy program. The all too familiar pattern of plant closings, induced bank failures, and impoverishment continues apace.

And global capital applauds. Despite an emerging crisis in social welfare and the decimation of his economy, Macedonian Finance Minister Ljube Trpevski proudly informed the press that “the World Bank and the IMF place Macedonia among the most successful countries in regard to current transition reforms. (31)

The head of the IMF mission to Macedonia, Paul Thomsen, agreed. He avowed that “the results of the stabilization program were impressive” and gave particular credit to “the efficient wages policy” adopted by the Skopje government. Still, his negotiators added, even more budget cutting will be necessary. (32)

But Western intervention is making its most serious inroads on national sovereignty in Bosnia. The neocolonial administration imposed by the Dayton accords and supported by NATO’s firepower ensures that Bosnia’s future will be determined in Washington, Bonn, and Brussels not Sarajevo.

Reconstruction Colonial Style

If Bosnia is ever to emerge from the ravages of war and neocolonialism, massive reconstruction will be essential. But judging by recent Balkan history, Western assistance is more likely to drag Bosnia into the Third World than to lift it to parity with its European neighbors.

The Bosnian government estimates that reconstruction costs will reach $47 billion. Western donors have pledged $3 billion in reconstruction loans, yet only $518 million dollars have so far been given. Part of this money is tagged to finance some of the local civilian costs of IFOR’s military deployment and part to repay international creditors. (33)

Fresh loans will pay back old debt. The Central Bank of the Netherlands has generously provided “bridge financing’ of $37 million to allow Bosnia to pay its arrears with the IMF, without which the IMF will not lend it fresh money. But in a cruel and absurd paradox, the sought-after loans from the IMF’s newly created “Emergency Window” for “post-conflict countries” will not be used for post-war reconstruction. Instead, they will repay the Dutch Central Bank, which had coughed up the money to settle IMF arrears in the first place. (34)

While rebuilding is sacrificed on the altar of debt repayment, Western governments and corporations show greater interest in gaining access to strategic natural resources. With the discovery of energy reserves in the region, the partition of Bosnia between the Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina and the Bosnian-Serb Republika Srpska under the Dayton accords has taken on new strategic importance. Documents in the hands of Croatia and the Bosnian Serbs indicate that coal and oil deposits have been identified on the eastern slope of the Dinarides Thrust, retaken from rebel Krajina Serbs by the US-backed Croatian army in the final offensives before the Dayton accords. Bosnian officials report that Chicago-based Amoco was among several foreign firms that subsequently initiated exploratory surveys in Bosnia.(35)

“Substantial” petroleum fields also lie in the Serb-held part of Croatia just across the Sava River from Tuzla, the headquarters for the US military zone.(36) Exploration operations went on during the war, but the World Bank and the multinationals that conducted the operations kept local governments in the dark, presumably to prevent them from acting to grab potentially valuable areas. (37)

With their attention devoted to debt repayment and potential energy bonanzas, the Western powers have shown little interest in rectifying the crimes committed under the rubric of ethnic cleansing. The 70,000 NATo troops on hand to “enforce the peace” will accordingly devote their efforts to administering the partition of Bosnia in accordance with Western economic interests rather than restoring the status quo ante.

While local leaders and Western interests share the spoils of the former Yugoslav economy, they have entrenched socio ethnic divisions in the very structure of partition. This permanent fragmentation of Yugoslavia along ethnic lines thwarts a united resistance of Yugoslavs of all ethnic origins against the recolonization of their homeland.

But what’s new? As one observer caustically noted, all of the leaders of Yugoslavia’s successor states have worked closely with the West: “All the current leaders of the former Yugoslav republics were Communist Party functionaries and each in turn vied to meet the demands of the World Bank and the IMF, the better to qualify for investment loans and substantial perks for the leadership.” (38)

The Only Possible World?

Western-backed neoliberal macroeconomic restructuring helped destroy Yugoslavia. Yet, since the onset of war in 1991, the global media have carefully overlooked or denied their central role. Instead, they have joined the chorus singing praises of the free market as the basis for rebuilding a war shattered economy. The social and political impact of economic restructuring in Yugoslavia has been carefully erased from our collective understanding. Opinion-makers instead dogmatically present cultural, ethnic, and religious divisions as the sole cause of the crisis. In reality, they are the consequence of a much deeper process of economic and political fracturing.

Such false consciousness not only masks the truth, it also prevents us from acknowledging precise his torical occurrences. Ultimately, it distorts the true sources of social conflict. When applied to the former Yugoslavia, it obscures the historical foundations of South Slavic unity, solidarity and identity. But this false consciousness lives across the globe, where shuttered factories, jobless workers, and gutted social programs are the only possible world, and “bitter economic medicine” is the only prescription.

At stake in the Balkans are the lives of millions of people. Macroeconomic reform there has destroyed livelihoods and made a joke of the right to work. It has put basic needs such as food and shelter beyond the reach of many. It has degraded culture and national identity. In the name of global capital, borders have been redrawn, legal codes rewritten, industries destroyed, financial and banking systems dismantled, social programs eliminated. No alternative to global capital, be it market socialism or “national” capitalism, will be allowed to exist.

But what happened to Yugoslavia and now continues in its weak successor states should resonate beyond the Balkans. Yugoslavia is a mirror for similar economic restructuring programs in not only the developing world, but also in the United States, Canada and Western Europe. The – Yugoslav reforms are the cruel reflection of a destructive economic model pushed to the extreme.

— (1) See, e.g., former US Ambassador to Yugoslavia Warren Zimmerman, ‘The Last Ambassador, A Memoir of the Collapse of Yugoslavia,’Foreign Affairs,v. 74,n.2,1995.

— (30) In June 1995, the IMF, acting on behalf of creditor banks and Western governments, proposed to redistribute that debt as follows: Serbia and Montenegro, 36%, Croatia 28%, Slovenia 16%, Bosnia&Herzegovina, 16% and Macedonia 5%

— (31) Macsdonian Information Liaison Service News, Apr 11,1995.

— (32) Ibid.

— (33) “The Govermnent of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall provide, free of cost, such facilities NATO needs for the preparation and execution of the Operation (Annex I A). Under the accord, NATO personnel will pay no Bosnian taxes, including sales taxes.